It’s time to get on TikTok: How a local lolly brand and a banking startup are using TikTok to drive sales
Wondering whether your brand should be on TikTok too? See how two very different companies are using it to grow their revenue.
Video-sharing app TikTok has become a staple social media platform for businesses seeking to tap into a trend that is popular among younger generations.
In fact, according to the latest DataReportal report, the app is so widespread that it had 690 million active users in the world in January — that’s more than Snapchat, Pinterest and Twitter.
Since launching in Australia in 2019, TikTok has attracted 2.5 million users, mostly between 15 and 30 years of age, data by Roy Morgan shows.
The surge in TikTok users has led businesses of all kinds to build a presence on the platform.
Banking startup Up spends more on its TikTok marketing campaigns compared to any other social media platform, while Aussie artisanal lolly brand Sticky has also jumped on the craze, attracting 3.5 million followers in less than 12 months with uplifting content.
Here’s how these two businesses are using the platform to promote their brands.
Up and away
Founded in 2017, Up is a digital bank that offers customers a simple and informative way to manage their money.
The neobank recently launched the first-ever gamified TikTok campaign in Australia called #UpEasyMoney Challenge, which reached almost 20 million views in three weeks.
Using the #UpEasyMoney Challenge game effect, TikTok users create a video of themselves eating as many coins as possible in 30 seconds to go in the running to win $1,000. Users can then share their video on the platform, which helps spread the challenge online.
Speaking to SmartCompany Plus, Up’s head of product, Anson Parker, noted that the aim of the challenge was to build brand awareness in a playful way.
“You build a somewhat viral effect, where people are having fun with it and sharing it as a playful concept,” Parker says.
But behind the fun lies a message that Parker says aligns with Up’s mission.
“For us, the bigger message is about making money more approachable and giving people permission to have a bit of fun with it.”
TikTok challenges
TikTok challenges can take any form but they must be easy to replicate by anyone with a smartphone, and engaging enough for users to want to participate.
According to TikTok, challenges are a way to get your audience to create “user-generated content that aligns with your brand”. And, they can “spread like wildfire on the app” when done correctly.
While most TikTok challenges need only a simple concept and hashtag, Up’s gamified challenge involved a partnership with TikTok.
Up partnered with TikTok so that the game, which works much like a filter on Facebook or Instagram, could be available to users through the app.
“With that game effect, we were one of the first brands to put one of those out, certainly one of the first financial brands,” Parker says.
Not only did Up partner with TikTok to get the game online, it also worked with influencers to help the challenge spread faster.
Up spent a moderate amount of its marketing spend working in partnership with the influencer agency HypeTap, seeking influencers who were already Up customers and familiar with the brand.
Up worked with top-tier influencers known as Georgie and Zac, who have 1.2 million followers, to smaller influencers such as Pasha Grozdov and Tash Invests, who have a combined following of 42,000.
“They can help plant the seed of the hashtag and the game,” Parker says.
Understanding the platform
Parker recommends any brand that is considering ramping up its TikTok campaigns to first think about what it wants from the platform, and whether the platform is the right for them.
“It’s not a platform where every brand can get on there and put something out without first understanding the spirit of the platform,” Parker says.
“The question that brands have to answer is: Is there a genuine resonance there with our brand on that platform?”
When asked why TikTok works so well for Up, Parker says it all comes down to the spirit of the platform.
“TikTok is a platform that has really high engagement with youth and for us, one of our strongest segments is people under 25 years,” he explains.
“So that’s sort of been the attractiveness from our point of view.”
On top of having a large cohort of younger customers, Up is suited to TikTok because it has always marketed itself as humorous and digitally engaged.
“We have a very engaging, playful brand that works well in that kind of context,” Parker says.
Sticky artisanal lollies
Established in 2001, Sticky is a family-owned business located in The Rocks, Sydney that sells artisanal rock candy.
David King, who co-owns the store with his partner Rachel Turner, tells SmartCompany Plus he started using TikTok for business thanks to his teenage daughter Annabelle.
“I was kind of intrigued, and thought ‘why not? We seem to be doing well on other social media platforms, so maybe there’s space for us here as well,’” King says.
Sticky’s lollies are made by hand and visiting customers can watch staff carry out the impressive feat of wrestling 16kg of molten sugar at a time.
It’s a theatrical process that is well suited to social media platforms, and Sticky had already been live streaming hour-long videos on Instagram and Facebook.
On the first day of making TikTok content in June last year, Sticky gained more than 1,000 followers. Within a week, that number grew to about 13,000, King says.
Less than 12 months later, Sticky has more than 3.5 million followers.
Two words: Personality and process
King’s advice for businesses interested in the platform is to brainstorm ideas about how they want to use it, and what they are trying to achieve.
Sticky’s own discussions led to clear objectives that have helped guide its TikTok strategy.
“I don’t think people really like being sold to, but I do think people respond to what I describe in two words: personality and process,” he says.
Sticky’s videos are curated by his daughter Annabelle and feature the business’ employees making and packing candy.
The videos, which are capped at 60 seconds, range from close ups of swirling molten sugar to fun moments shared between team members.
Recently, Sticky did a fantasy-themed video series for TikTok of the team making candy while dressed as wizards and trolls.
King says the goal is to make something that people can “enjoy and be entertained by”.
Another key function of TikTok is the ability to reply to comments underneath videos, with additional videos. This gives you the ability to interact with your audience directly and use their input to create more content, as seen above and below:
Using multiple platforms to boost sales
Inseparable from Sticky’s TikTok success is the company’s pandemic success story.
Last year, Sticky pivoted from a bricks-and-mortar store, selling primarily to tourists and events, to an online store that sells products worldwide.
Since July, Sticky has been making its products available online each Friday — only to sell out within ten minutes on Saturday morning.
King says while it’s difficult to determine what percentage of sales comes for each social media platform, it’s clear TikTok has helped.
“In terms of profile, yes, TikTok has been amazing,” he says.
Ultimately, King says it’s important to be on multiple social media platforms because they all play a different function.
“One of the interesting things is the way the three different platforms kind of pollinate each other,” he says.
For Sticky that means going live on TikTok, and then posting about that live session on Facebook and Instagram.
“They are three very different demographics — Facebook, Instagram and TikTok — so there’s this kind of synergy,” King says.
“We approach them all slightly differently and it really does reach across a whole lot of different demographics.”
